ENVIRONMENTALISTS are fighting plans for the proposed high speed rail link through Crewe saying it will destroy the countryside and increase pollution.

The Green Party, which has one MP, is now fighting the building of the line which would cut through Cheshire countryside between Manchester Airport and Crewe on its way to London.

A spokesman for the Cheshire East Green Party said: “Although in theory it might get people off short-haul flights, this is outweighed by the negatives, especially the destruction of large swathes of countryside and large increases in carbon emissions owing to the higher speeds.

“The claimed economic benefits for the North will not materialise – even if we could tell what will be happening in the economy in 20 years’ time.”

The Green Party says studies in countries that have already built high-speed lines, such as France and Spain, show the benefits have gone mostly to the capital.

“It is wealthy business people who have been clamouring for this line, and it is mostly wealthy people who would use it. The rest of us would suffer the effects,” said the spokesman.

The party says if the Government seriously wants to invest £33bn in transport, it would be better spent improving public transport now, not in 20 years’ time, between northern villages, towns and cities, and stopping the constant above-inflation increases in train fares.

“This would be much more likely to get people out of their cars,” said the spokesman.

He urges anyone opposed to HS2 to get involved in the campaign against it alongside the Green Party.

For more information about the proposed routes visit www.gov.uk/hs2-phase-two-initial-preferred-route-plan-and-profile-maps#route-map-west-midlands-to-manchester.